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Monday, 20 June 2016

Bulgarian backs off NATO fleet in Black Sea

Bulgaria’s
prime minister firmly ruled out his country’s participation in the
proposed NATO fleet in the Black Sea aimed at countering Russian
forces in the area: “I don’t need war,” the politician said
after Russia promised a response; meanwhile Romania’s president,
one of the initiators, has hurriedly backed off.

"I
always say that I want the Black Sea to see sailboats, yachts,
large boats with tourists and not become an arena of military
action… I do not need a war in the Black Sea," Bulgarian
Prime Minister Boyko Borissov said on Thursday referring to the
proposal for the NATO fleet in the Black Sea made
by Romanian President Klaus Iohannis while visiting Bulgaria
on June 15-16.

“Our
country will not become part of the Black Sea fleet being
prepared against Russia,” Borissov said as quoted
by EurActiv.com website.

“To
send warships as a fleet against Russian ships exceeds the
limit of what I can allow,” Borissov told reporters in Sofia
on Thursday, as cited by Bloomberg.

“To
deploy destroyers, aircraft carriers near [the resort cities of]
Bourgas or Varna during the tourist season is unacceptable.”

Klaus
Iohannis has quickly backed off, insisting that “the Black Sea
naval initiative regards joint training and exercises and that NATO
cannot and does not want to keep a fleet in the Black Sea,”
Romanian news agency Agerpres reported on Thursday.

“The
initiative I introduced to the Bulgarian President and Prime
Minister is an initiative designed for cooperation in the
area of joint exercises and joint training of the Romanian,
Bulgarian and Turkish naval forces. This is the so-called naval
initiative, and it does not comprise all naval forces, just joint
exercises and training," the agency quotes the Romanian leader
as saying in response to recent statements by the
Bulgarian prime minister.

The
Romanian president apparently said that “the initiative should be
deployed under the NATO umbrella, because all the three Black
Sea countries — Romania, Bulgaria and Turkey — are NATO
allies.”

''Where
the misunderstanding probably emerged was in relation to the
concept of a NATO fleet. Nobody creates a NATO fleet. That would
be nonsense. NATO cannot and does not want to keep its own Black
Sea fleet,” Agerpres quotes Iohannis as explaining.

‘We
will board the ships, we will waive our flags, but only Bulgaria
and Romania”, the Bulgarian prime minister said, adding that any
other scenarios could lead to a military conflict.

“If
a decision is made to create a permanent force, of course,
it would be destabilizing, because this is not a NATO sea,"
Andrey Kelin, head of the Russian Foreign Ministry’s European
Cooperation Department then said.

"If
a decision is made to create a permanent force, of course,
it would be destabilizing, because this is not a NATO sea," he
added.

Under
the Montreux Convention, countries which don't have a Black Sea
coastline cannot keep their warships there for more than 21
days. NATO members Turkey, Romania and Bulgaria are all Black Sea
Basin countries.

Earlier
reports of the Balkan Insight website however suggest that
Bucharest is urging NATO to create a permanent alliance fleet
in the Black Sea in a “move aimed to counter
Russia’s strong involvement in the region.”

The
website said that as early as February Romanian Defense
Minister Mihnea Motoc announced that Romania is taking the first
steps to negotiate with NATO to set up a regular
multinational naval patrol in the Black Sea.

“The
possibility of creating such a fleet might be discussed at the
next NATO summit in July,” Motoc then said. He added that
Romania must be ready by then with a clear plan and
proposal.

The
outlet also added that the regular flotilla might include ships
from NATO countries bordering the Black Sea, namely Bulgaria,
Romania and Turkey, but also from Germany, Italy and the
United States.

The
Bulgarian prime minister was not that optimistic. He said that his
country was among the most loyal EU countries and was doing what
was expected from the European family. But he added that there
was no way that Bulgaria would be attacked by Russia.

“You
remember how our nuclear reactors from the Belene central left
for Turkey. Not a single colleague spoke in my defense when
President Putin, in the presence of Erdogan, waived his
finger at me, saying that Bulgaria lost everything”, EurActive
quotes Borissov as saying.

The
website adds that “indeed, under Western pressure, Bulgaria
abandoned plans to build a nuclear central with Russian
technology, and gave up the South Stream gas pipeline project.
Putin made strong statements against Bulgaria, and in January
2015, Borissov warned that his country faced an energy catastrophe.”

The
International Court of Arbitration at the International
Chamber of Commerce in Geneva ruled in favor of the
Russian Atomstroyexport company and ordered to pay €620
million in compensation from Bulgaria to Russia.